Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd Ethnicity and Religion
Introduction
Religiously-informed conflicts have become increasingly prominent throughout the world – conflicts surrounding immigration in Europe, conflict at religious interfaces,the Islamicisation of ethno-national movements from Palestine to Malaysia. Steve Bruce (2003, p. 2) estimates that three quarters of the conflicts since 1960 have a religious component, where many of those involved ‘explain or justify their causes by reference to their religion’. This opens a whole terrain for inquiry. Is religiously-informed conflict distinctive in form and dynamics? Do specific religions incline towards specific forms of group identity and conflict? Are religiously-defined groups-in-conflict different from ethnic groups-in-conflict? How far does the historic sequencing of state-building, nation-building and confessionalisation affect the ways ethnicity and religion intersect? What specific resources are associated with ethnic and with religious solidarity? What happens where ethnic and religious boundaries coincide? In such cases, how are ethnicity and religion distinguished or merged in interaction and everyday understanding? Does religion provide specific resources for conflict resolution?
One approach posits a new phase of ‘religious’ or ‘civilisational’ conflicts (Huntington, 2002). Much of the recent ‘terrorism’ literature sits within this paradigm, detailing the ways religious belief is used to legitimate terrorist activity and suicide bombing (for critical analysis, see Stewart, 2009). However the multiplicity of theological positions and religious practices within each of the world religions means that we cannot read off political views from religious commitment: Norris and Inglehart (2004, 133-55) demonstrate multiple differences in political culture within each of the world religions and many overlaps between them. Quantitative study shows no significant difference between nominally religious and nominally secular conflicts in degrees or forms of violence (Stewart, 2009). Before attempting to generalise about ‘religious’ conflicts, we need more nuanced and detailed comparisons of the forms of religious and ethnic identification, group formation and conflict.
This task is hindered by the relative isolation of scholarship on ethnicity from scholarship on religion. The sociology of religion, for example, is a rich mine of analyses and models relevant to the study of ethnicity: models of culture-change (secularisation), identity change (conversion), the emergence of new religious movements, and the impact of religious groups and ideas on political culture and political organisation (Davie, 2007; Demerath, 2001, Snow and Machelek, 1984). The historical-sociological tradition traces interlinkages between religious practices, elites and values, on the one hand, and socio-political development on the other, showing how religious movements – early Calvinism and its impact on the values and habitus of the elite – came to inform European capitalist development (Weber, 1930) and early-modern state formation (Gorski, 2003); others have traced the role of religions in nation formation (Greenfeld, 1992; Hastings, 1997; Van der Leer and Lehmann,1999; Marx, 2003; Ihalainen, 2005). An important strand of recent research focuses on popular attitudes, tracing key periods when political elites use religious values to mobilise or control populations, to broker new ethno-political alliances, to frame concepts of nationhood, or to compensate groups for their increasing distantiation from the state (see variously Gal, 2007; Brown, 2010, Shenhav, 2006, 46-76,Kinnvall, 2002, Bruce, 1994, pp. 22-31). The classic studies of ethnicity, ethno-nationalism and ethnic conflict did not pay particular attention to religion, with one exception: the ethno-symbolist perspective associated with the work of Anthony D. Smith. Smith (2003) emphasises the self-conceptions of some ethnic groups as ‘chosen peoples’. He distinguishes the expansive ‘missionary peoples’ with a sacred mission of proselytism or exemplary profession of faith, and the bounded ‘covenantal peoples’, whose religiously informed obligations and expectations intensify their will to ethnic solidarity and survival (see also Cauthen, 2004). Correlatively, as D. H. Akenson (1992) has shown in his comparative study of three ‘covenantal’ settler peoples, Ulster Protestants, Afrikaaners, and Israelis, the political context and the interests it generates also affect the forms of religion that become dominant. Contemporary scholarly interest in ‘everyday life’ and the everyday manifestations of ethnicity (Brubaker, 2006; Jenkins, 2008) opens a wide field for research into the intertwining of ethnicity and religion at the everyday level. Some studies show the complexities of the intersection in peaceful, multi-ethnic societies (for example Levitt’s (2008) study of religion as a source of everyday activism among immigrants in the US). There are also studies of the interrelation of ethnicity and religion in conflict situations, for example Kakar’s (1996) study of Hindu and Muslim rioters in Hyderabad, Brewer’s (1998) study of anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland. Such research can help answer important theoretical and explanatory questions. Where ethnicity and religion are intertwined, is religion a legitimatory tool for other interests, constantly trumped by ethnicity? Or does religion – in Walter Benjamin’s terms – act as the puppet-master pulling the strings of seemingly secular groups (1969, 253-5)? When religious and ethnic motivations cross-cut, in what circumstances is one or other distinction highlighted? What theories and approaches can help us to synthesise the increasing numbers of case-studies? As we show below, attempts to answer these questions have required some reframing of concepts and theories of ethnicity.
Source:
https://www.academia.edu/13101116/Ethnicity_and_religion
Introduction
Religiously-informed conflicts have become increasingly prominent throughout the world – conflicts surrounding immigration in Europe, conflict at religious interfaces,the Islamicisation of ethno-national movements from Palestine to Malaysia. Steve Bruce (2003, p. 2) estimates that three quarters of the conflicts since 1960 have a religious component, where many of those involved ‘explain or justify their causes by reference to their religion’. This opens a whole terrain for inquiry. Is religiously-informed conflict distinctive in form and dynamics? Do specific religions incline towards specific forms of group identity and conflict? Are religiously-defined groups-in-conflict different from ethnic groups-in-conflict? How far does the historic sequencing of state-building, nation-building and confessionalisation affect the ways ethnicity and religion intersect? What specific resources are associated with ethnic and with religious solidarity? What happens where ethnic and religious boundaries coincide? In such cases, how are ethnicity and religion distinguished or merged in interaction and everyday understanding? Does religion provide specific resources for conflict resolution?
One approach posits a new phase of ‘religious’ or ‘civilisational’ conflicts (Huntington, 2002). Much of the recent ‘terrorism’ literature sits within this paradigm, detailing the ways religious belief is used to legitimate terrorist activity and suicide bombing (for critical analysis, see Stewart, 2009). However the multiplicity of theological positions and religious practices within each of the world religions means that we cannot read off political views from religious commitment: Norris and Inglehart (2004, 133-55) demonstrate multiple differences in political culture within each of the world religions and many overlaps between them. Quantitative study shows no significant difference between nominally religious and nominally secular conflicts in degrees or forms of violence (Stewart, 2009). Before attempting to generalise about ‘religious’ conflicts, we need more nuanced and detailed comparisons of the forms of religious and ethnic identification, group formation and conflict.
This task is hindered by the relative isolation of scholarship on ethnicity from scholarship on religion. The sociology of religion, for example, is a rich mine of analyses and models relevant to the study of ethnicity: models of culture-change (secularisation), identity change (conversion), the emergence of new religious movements, and the impact of religious groups and ideas on political culture and political organisation (Davie, 2007; Demerath, 2001, Snow and Machelek, 1984). The historical-sociological tradition traces interlinkages between religious practices, elites and values, on the one hand, and socio-political development on the other, showing how religious movements – early Calvinism and its impact on the values and habitus of the elite – came to inform European capitalist development (Weber, 1930) and early-modern state formation (Gorski, 2003); others have traced the role of religions in nation formation (Greenfeld, 1992; Hastings, 1997; Van der Leer and Lehmann,1999; Marx, 2003; Ihalainen, 2005). An important strand of recent research focuses on popular attitudes, tracing key periods when political elites use religious values to mobilise or control populations, to broker new ethno-political alliances, to frame concepts of nationhood, or to compensate groups for their increasing distantiation from the state (see variously Gal, 2007; Brown, 2010, Shenhav, 2006, 46-76,Kinnvall, 2002, Bruce, 1994, pp. 22-31). The classic studies of ethnicity, ethno-nationalism and ethnic conflict did not pay particular attention to religion, with one exception: the ethno-symbolist perspective associated with the work of Anthony D. Smith. Smith (2003) emphasises the self-conceptions of some ethnic groups as ‘chosen peoples’. He distinguishes the expansive ‘missionary peoples’ with a sacred mission of proselytism or exemplary profession of faith, and the bounded ‘covenantal peoples’, whose religiously informed obligations and expectations intensify their will to ethnic solidarity and survival (see also Cauthen, 2004). Correlatively, as D. H. Akenson (1992) has shown in his comparative study of three ‘covenantal’ settler peoples, Ulster Protestants, Afrikaaners, and Israelis, the political context and the interests it generates also affect the forms of religion that become dominant. Contemporary scholarly interest in ‘everyday life’ and the everyday manifestations of ethnicity (Brubaker, 2006; Jenkins, 2008) opens a wide field for research into the intertwining of ethnicity and religion at the everyday level. Some studies show the complexities of the intersection in peaceful, multi-ethnic societies (for example Levitt’s (2008) study of religion as a source of everyday activism among immigrants in the US). There are also studies of the interrelation of ethnicity and religion in conflict situations, for example Kakar’s (1996) study of Hindu and Muslim rioters in Hyderabad, Brewer’s (1998) study of anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland. Such research can help answer important theoretical and explanatory questions. Where ethnicity and religion are intertwined, is religion a legitimatory tool for other interests, constantly trumped by ethnicity? Or does religion – in Walter Benjamin’s terms – act as the puppet-master pulling the strings of seemingly secular groups (1969, 253-5)? When religious and ethnic motivations cross-cut, in what circumstances is one or other distinction highlighted? What theories and approaches can help us to synthesise the increasing numbers of case-studies? As we show below, attempts to answer these questions have required some reframing of concepts and theories of ethnicity.
Source:
https://www.academia.edu/13101116/Ethnicity_and_religion
Introduction
Religiously-informed conflicts have become increasingly prominent throughout the world – conflicts surrounding immigration in Europe, conflict at religious interfaces,the Islamicisation of ethno-national movements from Palestine to Malaysia. Steve Bruce (2003, p. 2) estimates that three quarters of the conflicts since 1960 have a religious component, where many of those involved ‘explain or justify their causes by reference to their religion’. This opens a whole terrain for inquiry. Is religiously-informed conflict distinctive in form and dynamics? Do specific religions incline towards specific forms of group identity and conflict? Are religiously-defined groups-in-conflict different from ethnic groups-in-conflict? How far does the historic sequencing of state-building, nation-building and confessionalisation affect the ways ethnicity and religion intersect? What specific resources are associated with ethnic and with religious solidarity? What happens where ethnic and religious boundaries coincide? In such cases, how are ethnicity and religion distinguished or merged in interaction and everyday understanding? Does religion provide specific resources for conflict resolution?
One approach posits a new phase of ‘religious’ or ‘civilisational’ conflicts (Huntington, 2002). Much of the recent ‘terrorism’ literature sits within this paradigm, detailing the ways religious belief is used to legitimate terrorist activity and suicide bombing (for critical analysis, see Stewart, 2009). However the multiplicity of theological positions and religious practices within each of the world religions means that we cannot read off political views from religious commitment: Norris and Inglehart (2004, 133-55) demonstrate multiple differences in political culture within each of the world religions and many overlaps between them. Quantitative study shows no significant difference between nominally religious and nominally secular conflicts in degrees or forms of violence (Stewart, 2009). Before attempting to generalise about ‘religious’ conflicts, we need more nuanced and detailed comparisons of the forms of religious and ethnic identification, group formation and conflict.
This task is hindered by the relative isolation of scholarship on ethnicity from scholarship on religion. The sociology of religion, for example, is a rich mine of analyses and models relevant to the study of ethnicity: models of culture-change (secularisation), identity change (conversion), the emergence of new religious movements, and the impact of religious groups and ideas on political culture and political organisation (Davie, 2007; Demerath, 2001, Snow and Machelek, 1984). The historical-sociological tradition traces interlinkages between religious practices, elites and values, on the one hand, and socio-political development on the other, showing how religious movements – early Calvinism and its impact on the values and habitus of the elite – came to inform European capitalist development (Weber, 1930) and early-modern state formation (Gorski, 2003); others have traced the role of religions in nation formation (Greenfeld, 1992; Hastings, 1997; Van der Leer and Lehmann,1999; Marx, 2003; Ihalainen, 2005). An important strand of recent research focuses on popular attitudes, tracing key periods when political elites use religious values to mobilise or control populations, to broker new ethno-political alliances, to frame concepts of nationhood, or to compensate groups for their increasing distantiation from the state (see variously Gal, 2007; Brown, 2010, Shenhav, 2006, 46-76,Kinnvall, 2002, Bruce, 1994, pp. 22-31). The classic studies of ethnicity, ethno-nationalism and ethnic conflict did not pay particular attention to religion, with one exception: the ethno-symbolist perspective associated with the work of Anthony D. Smith. Smith (2003) emphasises the self-conceptions of some ethnic groups as ‘chosen peoples’. He distinguishes the expansive ‘missionary peoples’ with a sacred mission of proselytism or exemplary profession of faith, and the bounded ‘covenantal peoples’, whose religiously informed obligations and expectations intensify their will to ethnic solidarity and survival (see also Cauthen, 2004). Correlatively, as D. H. Akenson (1992) has shown in his comparative study of three ‘covenantal’ settler peoples, Ulster Protestants, Afrikaaners, and Israelis, the political context and the interests it generates also affect the forms of religion that become dominant. Contemporary scholarly interest in ‘everyday life’ and the everyday manifestations of ethnicity (Brubaker, 2006; Jenkins, 2008) opens a wide field for research into the intertwining of ethnicity and religion at the everyday level. Some studies show the complexities of the intersection in peaceful, multi-ethnic societies (for example Levitt’s (2008) study of religion as a source of everyday activism among immigrants in the US). There are also studies of the interrelation of ethnicity and religion in conflict situations, for example Kakar’s (1996) study of Hindu and Muslim rioters in Hyderabad, Brewer’s (1998) study of anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland. Such research can help answer important theoretical and explanatory questions. Where ethnicity and religion are intertwined, is religion a legitimatory tool for other interests, constantly trumped by ethnicity? Or does religion – in Walter Benjamin’s terms – act as the puppet-master pulling the strings of seemingly secular groups (1969, 253-5)? When religious and ethnic motivations cross-cut, in what circumstances is one or other distinction highlighted? What theories and approaches can help us to synthesise the increasing numbers of case-studies? As we show below, attempts to answer these questions have required some reframing of concepts and theories of ethnicity.
Source:
https://www.academia.edu/13101116/Ethnicity_and_religion
Introduction
Religiously-informed conflicts have become increasingly prominent throughout the world – conflicts surrounding immigration in Europe, conflict at religious interfaces,the Islamicisation of ethno-national movements from Palestine to Malaysia. Steve Bruce (2003, p. 2) estimates that three quarters of the conflicts since 1960 have a religious component, where many of those involved ‘explain or justify their causes by reference to their religion’. This opens a whole terrain for inquiry. Is religiously-informed conflict distinctive in form and dynamics? Do specific religions incline towards specific forms of group identity and conflict? Are religiously-defined groups-in-conflict different from ethnic groups-in-conflict? How far does the historic sequencing of state-building, nation-building and confessionalisation affect the ways ethnicity and religion intersect? What specific resources are associated with ethnic and with religious solidarity? What happens where ethnic and religious boundaries coincide? In such cases, how are ethnicity and religion distinguished or merged in interaction and everyday understanding? Does religion provide specific resources for conflict resolution?
One approach posits a new phase of ‘religious’ or ‘civilisational’ conflicts (Huntington, 2002). Much of the recent ‘terrorism’ literature sits within this paradigm, detailing the ways religious belief is used to legitimate terrorist activity and suicide bombing (for critical analysis, see Stewart, 2009). However the multiplicity of theological positions and religious practices within each of the world religions means that we cannot read off political views from religious commitment: Norris and Inglehart (2004, 133-55) demonstrate multiple differences in political culture within each of the world religions and many overlaps between them. Quantitative study shows no significant difference between nominally religious and nominally secular conflicts in degrees or forms of violence (Stewart, 2009). Before attempting to generalise about ‘religious’ conflicts, we need more nuanced and detailed comparisons of the forms of religious and ethnic identification, group formation and conflict.
This task is hindered by the relative isolation of scholarship on ethnicity from scholarship on religion. The sociology of religion, for example, is a rich mine of analyses and models relevant to the study of ethnicity: models of culture-change (secularisation), identity change (conversion), the emergence of new religious movements, and the impact of religious groups and ideas on political culture and political organisation (Davie, 2007; Demerath, 2001, Snow and Machelek, 1984). The historical-sociological tradition traces interlinkages between religious practices, elites and values, on the one hand, and socio-political development on the other, showing how religious movements – early Calvinism and its impact on the values and habitus of the elite – came to inform European capitalist development (Weber, 1930) and early-modern state formation (Gorski, 2003); others have traced the role of religions in nation formation (Greenfeld, 1992; Hastings, 1997; Van der Leer and Lehmann,1999; Marx, 2003; Ihalainen, 2005). An important strand of recent research focuses on popular attitudes, tracing key periods when political elites use religious values to mobilise or control populations, to broker new ethno-political alliances, to frame concepts of nationhood, or to compensate groups for their increasing distantiation from the state (see variously Gal, 2007; Brown, 2010, Shenhav, 2006, 46-76,Kinnvall, 2002, Bruce, 1994, pp. 22-31). The classic studies of ethnicity, ethno-nationalism and ethnic conflict did not pay particular attention to religion, with one exception: the ethno-symbolist perspective associated with the work of Anthony D. Smith. Smith (2003) emphasises the self-conceptions of some ethnic groups as ‘chosen peoples’. He distinguishes the expansive ‘missionary peoples’ with a sacred mission of proselytism or exemplary profession of faith, and the bounded ‘covenantal peoples’, whose religiously informed obligations and expectations intensify their will to ethnic solidarity and survival (see also Cauthen, 2004). Correlatively, as D. H. Akenson (1992) has shown in his comparative study of three ‘covenantal’ settler peoples, Ulster Protestants, Afrikaaners, and Israelis, the political context and the interests it generates also affect the forms of religion that become dominant. Contemporary scholarly interest in ‘everyday life’ and the everyday manifestations of ethnicity (Brubaker, 2006; Jenkins, 2008) opens a wide field for research into the intertwining of ethnicity and religion at the everyday level. Some studies show the complexities of the intersection in peaceful, multi-ethnic societies (for example Levitt’s (2008) study of religion as a source of everyday activism among immigrants in the US). There are also studies of the interrelation of ethnicity and religion in conflict situations, for example Kakar’s (1996) study of Hindu and Muslim rioters in Hyderabad, Brewer’s (1998) study of anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland. Such research can help answer important theoretical and explanatory questions. Where ethnicity and religion are intertwined, is religion a legitimatory tool for other interests, constantly trumped by ethnicity? Or does religion – in Walter Benjamin’s terms – act as the puppet-master pulling the strings of seemingly secular groups (1969, 253-5)? When religious and ethnic motivations cross-cut, in what circumstances is one or other distinction highlighted? What theories and approaches can help us to synthesise the increasing numbers of case-studies? As we show below, attempts to answer these questions have required some reframing of concepts and theories of ethnicity.
Source:
https://www.academia.edu/13101116/Ethnicity_and_religion